THE architect of £140 million of cuts at Edinburgh University has warned it would be a “tragedy” if the sector’s funding crisis led to closures.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, the institution’s £418,000-a-year vice-principal, Sir Peter Mathieson, who plans slash jobs to make cuts equivalent to 10 per cent of its turnover, has called for a rethink of university funding in Scotland.

The Edinburgh vice-principal argued the £7,500 fee received for Scottish students was below cost, forcing universities to become reliant on overseas students for income.

His own institution raked in £360m from foreign students, compared with just £27m in fees from Scottish counterparts. 

That reliance has, however, plunged the sector into crisis as numbers plummeted in recent years.

Calling for the SNP’s totemic free tuition policy to be reconsidered, Sir Peter said: “We need more income into the system, either through some kind of means testing or a postgraduate system of earnings repayment.

“Either we have tuition fees which are adequate to pay the costs, or we have another mechanism to pay the costs.

“If we had a hybrid system, where some people pay fees and some people don’t, one possibility is that that’s means-tested in some way.

“If it’s to be a political priority, then it has to be adequately funded to ensure its future,” he added.

Referring to Dundee University’s £35m deficit crisis, where as many as 700 — or 20 per cent — of its workforce face redundancy, he said: “It would be a tragedy for Scotland if other universities were to get themselves into a similar situation.”

But his own cuts programme has been branded “academic vandalism” by UCU general secretary Jo Grady.

The Scottish government has been approached for comment.